1. Does the Matrix support girls that are two-sport athletes during the Spring AAU season?

The Matrix absolutely supports players that want to participate in two sports during the Spring AAU season. We know that spring is a busy time for other sports and so we work hard with the busy schedules of parents and players to enable girls to play for a Matrix AAU team so that they can improve their basketball skills while also participating in other sports as well.

As a general policy, a player should treat Matrix Basketball as a co-equal #1 priority with her other Spring sport. Every Matrix coach implements this policy in a different manner; consult with the coaches for your daughter's age group before or during tryouts for more details. Maintaining open lines of communication with your daughter's coach regarding potential practice/game conflicts with another spring sport throughout the season is the key to making the schedules work for all involved.

Questions 2 and 3 apply to all Matrix players, but may be of special interest to our two-sport players:

2. What are the attendance expectations for Matrix practices?75% practice standard.The expectation is that players will make every effort to attend every Matrix practice.Each player should attend at least 75% of all team practices.For example, if you have softball practice and a basketball practice at the same time one day a week, you should miss the softball practice 50% of the time in order to meet the basketball practice standard.However, every Matrix coach makes every effort to schedule Matrix team practices to avoid as many direct conflicts with other sports as possible. Occasional absences for illness, injuries, or school/family conflicts are to be expected and are typically excused from this standard. But all players/parents should understand that any missed practice time may affect playing time in upcoming tournament games.

3. What are the attendance expectations for Matrix tournaments and other games?The expectation is that Matrix AAU team players will make every effort to attend every tournament game; in general, a player should always attend a minimum of two games per tournament weekend. Typically, it is not a problem to miss a tournament game in order to attend a game for another spring sport. But the application of this standard is up to each individual coach, and may depend on the weekend/type of event. For example, if a team is participating in a Potomac Valley AAU District tournament, coaches expect attendance at District tournament games to be a top priority. For older teams, attendance at key college exposure events is a higher priority than certain local tune-up events. But again, all players/parents should understand that any missed game time may affect playing time in upcoming tournament games.